...a higher proportion than backed Ronald Reagan or George W Bush (a self-styled evangelical).... Some 75 per cent of white evangelicals approve of Trump, compared with 42 per cent among the wider population. Moreover, that approval rate has risen over the past year.... Some evangelicals also seem willing to overlook Trump’s personal behaviour in the hope that he will deliver the goods for them on policy.... Tripodi found that evangelicals were reading the “news” very diligently and seriously.... Evangelicals... consumed... Trump’s speeches, videos and tweets, and then discussed and interpreted them.... The challenge with America today is not just that different people are watching different types of news; it’s that they are interpreting it in different ways.... Don’t presume that Trump will lose fans just because of the endless stories playing on (some) television channels about Stormy Daniels or Russian scandals.

#shouldread

A question: if "other religious measures had no direct effect on how likely someone was to vote for Trump" once one had accounted for whether somebody believed "The federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation", why call this a religious belief, rather than deplorable as simply pro-white—anti-Muslim anti-Jewish anti-Hindu—and anti-Black and anti-Hispanic as well?: Andrew L. Whitehead, Joseph O. Baker and Samuel L. Perry: Despite porn stars and Playboy models, white evangelicals aren’t rejecting Trump. This is why: "Why are religious individuals and groups that previously decried sexual impropriety among political leaders suddenly willing to give Trump a 'mulligan' on his infidelity?...

...Voters’ religious tenets aren’t what is behind Trump support; rather, it’s Christian nationalism—their view of the United States as a fundamentally Christian nation.... To measure Christian nationalism, we combined responses to six separate questions that ask whether respondents agree or disagree with these statements: “The federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation”.... The more someone believed the United States is—and should be—a Christian nation, the more likely they were to vote for Trump.... Americans’ religious beliefs, behaviors and affiliation did not directly influence voting for Trump. In fact, once Christian nationalism was taken into account, other religious measures had no direct effect on how likely someone was to vote for Trump. These measures of religion mattered only if they made someone more likely to see the United States as a Christian nation....

Many white Christians believe Trump may be an effective instrument in God’s plan for America, even if he is not particularly religious himself. In the upcoming midterm elections, Trump and other politicians will keep emphasizing Christian nationalism. After all, it works. White Christian America is unquestionably in demographic decline. But one of its primary cultural creations—Christian nationalism—will continue influencing U.S. politics and society for decades to come, particularly in response to waning demographic and social dominance. It’s a worldview that can’t be undermined, even by porn stars and Playboy models.